Olympus Has Fallen
by Maelstrom J
Summary: Humanity, groveling in the dirt. Demigods, slaughtered in droves and scattered The Gods, imprisoned in Tartarus. And Gaea? Queen of the Earth once again. (SYOC closed)
1. Chapter 1

**There's all these Fanfics about what happens after The Seven defeat Gaea. But what if things had gone south? What if instead of winning, the demigods had lost? Butchered by the monstrous allies of Octavian. Ground to dust by the power of the Earth-Mother. What if barely any escaped?**

 **Would those that lived struggle to fight back and survive in a post-apocalyptic world? How long would they last? Why do I have so many rhetorical questions...**

 **On a side note I'm sorry I still can't get pictures for my stories, I've been posting from my iPad and for whatever reason I can't put a picture to them.**

I crept over the tumbled stone wall and glanced back at Zach who's huge frame made a big outline against the dusky sky. Across the overgrown field a huge bonfire burned while shadowy shapes moved across the glare. I crawled forwards to the rusted remains of a tractor, propped myself up on the fallen wheel, and stared at the surroundings of the fire with my thumb over the blaze to cut out glare.

Zach crawled up besides me, his longish blond hair grey and gold in the odd lighting. _Mine probably looks the same._ I thought to myself and absently brushed my shorter hair to the side. The barrel of an M16 came into view as he unslung it from his back and stared down the enchanted sights.

" Couple of Cyclopes. Three, five maybe. There's something else big in the ba- Shit."

A huge figure, well over 20 feet tall, stood and its odd profile cut out the light. Two yellow lights burned on its chest as it seemed to stare out to our left. The only problem was it had no head.

" Acephali. This could be a problem. I glanced at Zach.

"You got a Fire shell left? That might bring it down." He reached into his belt pouch and pulled three glass capped bullets out. Green liquid glowed inside the celestial bronze casing which was etched with a cycloptic skull-and-crossbones. He dropped the magazine and replaced the top three bullets before aiming back down the sights. The headless giant looked across the field around us, its yellow eyes like spotlights that never seemed to land on us.

If one good thing came out of this whole fiasco it was that whatever let monsters smell us had vanished. The element of surprise was on our side tonight.

As the moon cleared the horizon, three shots rang out, and the Acephali fell with emerald fire trailing from its eyes and mouth. The Cyclopes looked at the three holes in its broad back and backed away as the corpse dissolved into dust and the fire began to catch on the brush. They all wielded oversized battle axes, swords or war hammers and they brought these to bear, stalking the perimeter of camp like hounds on the hunt.

Two more cracks and two more cyclops fell like trees followed by a _twang_ after which a bolt embedded itself in a third's eye. The two dissolved into dust whilst the third fell to its knees, blood pouring from its blinded eye. The remaining two went back to back, clubs drawn, and eyes peeled at the surrounding darkness. They didn't however, expect a teenage boy to fly out of the blue and decapitate them both.

He dropped to the ground, strangely curved swords collapsing into two pens which disappeared into the pockets of his worn, grey cargo pants. A crossbow and quiver of bronze bolts were slung across the back of a navy windbreaker which fluttered in the strong breeze. He had light skin and squarish, wire-rimmed glasses over grey-blue eyes. The strangest part of his appearance was that his pupils glowed with neon yellow light. A light that faded with the wind.

Zach walked into the dusty clearing where his green military gear took on a strange blood red and bright green color in the dying, two-toned flames. I scoffed at the older boy's appearance." Zach man... We go on a hunting trip and you seriously still put gel in your hair? Unbelievable..." He shrugged," So sue me Jon I like my hair. Better to go out stylish than messy." His hair was parted to the side and had a bunch of gel in it.I laughed and picked up a dagger dropped by a cyclops," Yeah because monsters are really gonna care what your hair looks like when they rip your face off. 'Member what happened to Harold with that acne cream? Hydra thought he was delicious."

We rummaged around the camp and collect a few odds and ends. Economy sized cans of soup, some bronze and gold ingots, Drachmas, and I even found a candle holder crafted from a satyr's skull... How they got that... Well never mind. Then we came to a large tent, set a few yards outside camp. It was made of rough leather and torn bedsheets and was stuck to the ground with big iron nails. The flap was tied close with a huge knot but it only took a single swing of one of my swords to sever it.

Inside was a surprise. " Now who do we have here?"

 **Here's the deal with OCs, I will accept both PMs and Reviews but they have to be complete, not children of Big Three Gods or maiden goddesses, and not super OP. They have to have flaws that whether big or small, could be a problem and make them more "human", relatively speaking. You'll notice they can be mortal or demigod. I have a preference towards demigods but I am planning something with the humans somewhere in the future so a good OC will not go unused if I have my way. Clothing should be suited for the situation (post-apocalyptic) I think that's about it. As such here you go.**

 **PS: if human just put mortal and none for Parentage and Powers**

 **PPS: the history can be just since the gigantomancy or all the way back**

 **Name:**

 **Age:**

 **Demigod/Human?:**

 **Parentage:**

 **Powers:**

 **-Appearance**

 **Hair:**

 **Hair Style:**

 **Eye Color:**

 **Skin Tone:**

 **Height:**

 **Weight:**

 **Build:**

 **Scars/Tatoos?:**

 **Personality:**

 **Sexuality:**

 **Fears:**

 **Relationships to canon characters:**

 **History:**

 **-Clothing**

 **Normal:**

 **Night:**

 **Accessories:**

 **Armor?:**

 **Weapon(s):**

 **Skills:**

 **As an example here's my OC-**

 **Name: Jonathan A. Stratos**

 **Age: 16**

 **Demigod/Human?: demigod**

 **Parentage: Aeolus**

 **Powers: flight, weather control(lightning, rain, snow, ect)**

 **-Appearance**

 **Hair: dirty blond**

 **Hair Style: short, straight**

 **Eye Color: grey/blue**

 **Skin Tone: light tan**

 **Height: 5'9**

 **Weight: 130**

 **Build: stronger than appearances would warrant, fairly built, thin-ish**

 **Scars/Tatoos?: an omega made up of the names of all those that died at Camp Half-Blood**

 **Personality: courageous, somewhat reckless, loyal, friendly, trustworthy, very intelligent, caring**

 **Sexuality: straight**

 **Fears: scorpions, claustrophobic**

 **Relationships to canon characters: looked up to Annabeth and was good friends with Leo. Hung around the Hermes campers a lot and picked up some tricks**

 **History: came to camp at 11 after he started flying in gym class. He spent almost the last five years there except for a few trips to go see his mom, managed to escape the Half-Blood Massacre by running/flying away, a point of shame for him**

 **-Clothing**

 **Normal: lightweight khaki cargo pants, black tee shirt, navy windbreaker, beat up black hiking boots**

 **Night: black shorts, tee shirt**

 **Accessories: squarish, transition glasses (not** ** _really_** **bad vision just not good), silver medallion (his mother's last gift)**

 **Armor?: Carbon fiber body armor (under jacket), bronze gauntlets**

 **Weapon(s): twin Falcata (curved swords used by northern Greeks and the Gauls that**

 **Skills: strategist, meteorologist (lol), his Falcata's strange shape often confuses enemies making him a very good swordsman regardless of his actual prodigious skill, knowledge of random and surprisingly useful stuff spanning everywhere from chemistry to astronomy to comic books**

 **Enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again people! I'm pleased to say I got some great OCs and you seem to love the idea. I also owe McCanner a shoutout and the recognition of his OC Zach. There ya go bud! Now we're even lol. But now it's time to start the ball rolling. I actually managed to get pictures WOO! Thats been a long time coming.**

 **As for the OCs so far...**

 **Zach Finley: McCanner (duh)**

 **Mike Jordan: WarEagleAthena**

 **Elizabeth Fiore: Cloudsomniac**

 **Michela Pond: Flowerashes2**

 **Matt "Doc" Burguess: LightStrike31**

 **And don't worry, this won't be a totally OCcentric story.**

Four people were tied up like Egyptian mummies inside the tent, practically thrown amidst the crates and barrels. I pulled out a flashlight and shined it around. Each was blindfolded, gagged and completely motionless except for one tall black guy with short black hair and built like an NBA player. A fact reflected by his Michael Jordan jersey over torn grey sweatpants.

His hands were scraping at the cords with a rusted scrap of metal and he must've been at it for a while as he'd worn about halfway through. A younger girl was on the floor at his feet, her chocolate brown hair splayed across the ground and the shoulders of a powder blue jacket. I went to these two and pulled the gag out of the guy's mouth.

" Hang on we're gonna get you out of here." The guy slumped, metal shard clinking on the hard packed dirt,

" Oh thank the gods. I thought I was gonna be breakfast." I cut the blindfold with a knife and he blinked rapidly as his pale blue eyes adjusted to the light. I sliced his bonds and knelt to the girl on the ground. I pulled the gag off and cut her blindfold, revealing pretty features, and brown eyes.

On a hunch I said," You're one of Aphrodite kids aren't you?" She nodded and licked her lips. " Thank you..." And with that she passed out. I turned back to the big guy who'd gotten shakily to his feet and was rubbing his wrists.

" You good my man?" He shrugged,

" As good as you can expect. And call me Mike." I glanced over at Zach who was helping a slim girl with black hair in up as a tall guy with brown hair looked on. The girl closed her eyes and had a look of utmost concentration when suddenly a flickering ball of light erupted into existence at the peak of the tent. If anything she grew paler and slumped as I shut off my flashlight, now obsolete. I stood and turned to the taller guy who wore a brown trench coat and jeans.

" How are you standing? The others are all exhausted but you look fine."

He shrugged," Goddess of healing for a mom certainly helps." I smirked and addressed them all as Zach picked up the brown-haired girl and set her down on a big chest. " So the lot of you are demigods I assume. Good to hear we're not as alone as we thought."

Then Zach cut in." We should probably get outa here pretty quick, there's usually scavengers that follow behind the bigger monsters. But names might be in order."

I nodded," I'm Jon and that's Zach. I already got his name," Jabbing my thumb at Mike." But how 'bout you two." The tall guy stepped out of the shadow of some boxes and I got a look at grey eyes on a face several years older than my own.

" Matt Burguess, just call me Doc." Mike let out a snort. " Dude I hope that means you're a doctor and not obsessed with Snow White." A smile grew over Matt's face and he pointed at Mike.

" I like this one." Zach laughed and turned to the black haired girl. " How about you? And how'd you do the light thing?" She cocked an eyebrow and looked with weary eyes.

" Elizabeth Fiore, daughter of Apollo. As for the light thing? It sounds kinda dumb out loud but I can make stuff with light. That," she gestured at the floating ball of light." Took way more power than I should even risk using at night. During the day it's a piece of cake but at night I usually can't." " Then how..." She shrugged," Guess I've got a bit bottled up. Honestly I haven't a clue. That usually doesn't wo-"

Outside a howl shattered the calm. I spun around and with a flick of my wrist my pens shot out of my pockets followed by their sword counterparts.

" Oh damn. Hellhounds. Any of you got weapons?" Elizabeth shrugged but Mike and Doc both pulled out small knives. At first I was about to ridicule them but then they expanded into a Celestial Bronze greatsword for Mike and a gleaming, Imperial Gold longsword in Doc's hands. I looked at Zach.

After two years we've kinda developed an almost telepathy-sorta thing and we usually know what the other's gonna say. I picked up the brown haired girl while Zach drew his gun just in time for a paw to shred through the side of the tent. He unloaded the Celestial Bronze laced rounds into the Hellhound's maw, sending it slopping into a puddle of shadow across the ground.

To my right I saw Doc toss a dagger to Elizabeth just in time for her to jam it into another Hellhound's eye as it tore through yet another side of the already battered tent. Doc followed through and severed the demonic hounds head.

On my left, Mike drove his sword through the side and a pained yelp signaled a hit. We were fighting blind so I reached out to the air around us and got a feel for the surroundings. Four more hounds circled the camp while two were right outside the tent itself. My vision snapped back to normal as Zach blew another hound away.

He looked at me," I'll be back. Don't die today Jonny Boy!" With that he pulled on his army helmet which up until now had hung on his back by its neck strap. He vanished and the only indication of where he went was the flip of the tent flap as he crawled out. It's days like these I wish I had a hat like Annie used to have. There was about ten seconds of deadly silence when shots began to ring out. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Then a deathly howl followed by a sixth shot sounded out in the night.

After a pause I shouted," Zach? You still breathing?" For a painful moment their was silence then a voice practically shouted in my ear.

" No this is my ghost. I'm really in a Hound's guts right now!" He pulled off his helmet and popped into view,

" We're clear for now but we should run, Lou was gonna port us back before too long."

I nodded," Shows over guys and Liz. Ready for some food?" Mike grinned wolffishly." Dude I haven't eaten in two days hit me up!" Doc perked up as he pocketed his ex-sword which I realized was a gold scalpel." I'll second that but how far away is your camp?"

" Northeastern Pennsylvania." His and Elizabeth's jaws dropped," We're in Ohio... I think. How'd you get here?" Just then, as if in answer to the question, a female voice echoed in my head and from the looks on the other's faces they heard it too. " _Oh a bit of magic and some of these so called 'divine words'. It's amazing what this scroll contains. Ready to come home boys_?" I nodded, both physically and mentally... If that makes any sense.

A swirling pool of green light appeared, sucking the stack of crates into its depths. I looked across at three of the four newbies and at the girl still out cold in my arms.

" See you on the other side." And with that I jumped in. And no, I did not hit the girl's head on the side.

 **I hope I did your OCs justice and if I messed up in any ways please tell me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**McCanner: Hello everyone, my name is McCanner and I will be filling in for 'ole Mealstrom J this chapter and I hope you enjoy my O.C (Zach) and his POV. Also, I will try and update my stor-  
**

 **Maelstrom J: Blah, blah, blah no one cares about your stories. Get on with the action!**

 **McCanner: Excuse me? I could not help you at all you know that right?**

 **Maelstrom J: *silence***

 **McCanner: That's what I thought. Now on with the show!**

After coming through the gate, I was immediately greeted by the other surviving demigods at our camp. We had barely managed to escape queen dirt face's wrath and we've been on the run ever since. Me and Jon had been best friends before but after surviving so long with each other, we were about as close to brothers as you could be.

"I see you've brought some company, always good to find other survivors," Lou Ellen said. I ran up to her and gave her a big hug. The truth is, I've had a crush on Lou Ellen ever since my first crush, Thalia, decided to join the hunters of Artemis.

Our intimate moment was interrupted by a snicker from behind me. It was from Jon no doubt, he was one of the few who was blatantly aware of my crush on Lou.

"I hate to spoil the reunion but we have business to attend to," he said as he nodded his head towards Michela who was still unconscious.

"I got this," Doc said as he walked over and gently laid a hand on the unconscious daughter of Aphrodite. After a brief silence, her eyes shot open and she let out a few coughs before Jon and Doc helped her back onto her feet.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"No problem," Jon said which made me roll my eyes, all he did was help her up and now he's taking credit. I managed a chuckle before introducing the newbies.

"Everyone this is Mike, Michela, Elizabeth, and Doc," I said out loud as I pointed at each of them. Some of them waved before I heard a scream from behind.

"MIKE...YOU'RE ALIVE?!" Lacy squealed as she flew out of nowhere and slammed into Mike, engulfing his middle and legs in a bear hug.

"I...I thought you were dead," Lacy said with a tremble as tears started to form in her eyes.

"You two know each other?" Jon asked as I face palmed at his stupid question.

"No Jon, that's just how Lacy greets everyone," I joked as Jon blushed a deep red.

"Shut up, Bubbles," he said back at me.

That earned a few laughs from the newbies.

"Your nickname is Bubbles?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, its a stupid joke about my anger issues," I explained as I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

"Anger issues?" Mike asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"What did you say punk?" I growled.

Mike cautiously backed away and I dropped the facade only to start laughing while Jon rolled his eyes off to the side.

"Oh man, I'm just kidding but yeah I've been told that I have anger issues but that shouldn't be a problem with us," I explained as I wiped away a tear.

Reyna and Gwen suddenly appeared and made their way over to Doc and both gave him a hug.

"Good to see you survived Doc," Gwen said.

"I'm just glad I'm not the only Roman who made it," Doc responded with a smile. "What about Frank and Hazel, did they make it?" Doc asked. That made everyone besides the newbies shuffle their feet uncomfortably. We hadn't heard anything about the demigods from the prophecy since the battle.

"We lost them and the other's during the battle," I said with a dark expression.

"Are...are they still alive?" Doc and Elizabeth asked at the same time.

"We don't know," I answered quietly.

"Well aren't you going to do something about it?" Michela asked with a dangerous tone. I turned to face her with a fiery expression as I clenched both of my fists and gritted my teeth.

Before I could explode Lou quickly intervened and got in between us and tried to calm me down.

"She's young Zach, just calm down, it's what Annabeth would want," she whispered soothingly into my ear. At the mention of my sister's name I took a deep breath and was able to calm down. I noticed Jon unclench his fists. He was always the protective one.

"You don't know that," I whispered back in Lou's ear. She hugged me close to her and rubbed her hand through my hair.

"Maybe I don't but you need to calm down Zach, you're scaring the newbies," she whispered and I nodded in understanding.

I looked up in time to watch said newbies meet my gaze. "Sorry about that guys, Zach lost someone close to him during the battle and he doesn't like to have it brought up," Lou explained. "Also, to answer your question, we have been moving around a lot trying to survive from the monsters so we haven't been able to search that much for the others. We haven't had any leads either..."

Lou gave me another hug to make sure I was totally calm down and I motioned for her to let go, I felt better now. She and Annabeth were the only ones who could calm me down from my anger but Annabeth was the best at it.

"Lets give the newbies a tour of the place," I said. "Mike and Elizabeth, you guys can come with me."

I quickly dragged the two demigods away and started leading them around the camp.

The main camp was very modest and was just made up of some crudely assembled tents that circled around a central campfire. The fire was still going as it burned red as it had been since the battle at Camp Half-Blood.

"So what's the story behind you guys?" I asked as I lead them around camp, pointing out various places like the secondary cooking fire and Lou and Will's medical tent.

"I was hiding out in Chicago when I got captured by those damn cyclopes," Mike answered bitterly. I could tell from his tone that getting captured must've been a big blow to his ego.

"What were you doing in Chicago?" I asked. We usually avoided the big cities because of how dangerous it was.

"I was born and raised there until my mom sent me to camp," he answered and I nodded in understanding. I tried to avoid returning back to where I was raised back in Alabama because of my dad.

You see, me and my dad had a very tense relationship. He gained Athena's attention from his time overseas at war. Athena explained to me that he led his soldiers to victory when they were greatly outnumbered. He used strategy and planning to outmaneuver the enemy.

My dad got infatuated with Athena but she couldn't stay with him due to the Ancient Laws and my dad lost his mind without her. He took his anger out on me, pushing me to my limits in school and in sports. I glanced down at my arm at the scars still visible on my arms from when he would whip me with a belt when I disappointed him. I remember when Annabeth helped me run away after the Titan War. Athena has also blessed some of my dad's army stuff that I stole before I ran away. I now have his old uniform, his M16 rifle, his helmet, and his combat knife.

The weapons were now laced with celestial bronze and the helmet turned me invisible when I put it on much like Annabeth's Yankees cap.

"What about you Liz?" I asked. She hadn't said a word since I started showing them around camp.

She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the shout of a certain child of Apollo.

"Liz!" Will shouted before he ran up to her and nearly tackled her into a hug. They continued their embrace as I noticed their similar features.

"Liz is a daughter of Apollo. Duh." I thought to myself.

I turned my attention to Mike who I was starting to realize looked very familiar.

"You're one of Hermes kids, aren't you?' I asked.

Mike gave me a nod as we left Elizabeth and Will to catch up on things with each other as we continued walking. I decided to try and get to know the big guy some.

"So why do people call you Mike?" I asked.

"Well, my full name is Michael A. Jordan so people called me Mike to keep people from getting confused," he explained with a subtle laugh.

"Wait... so your name is Michael Jordan...the same as the BEST basketball player of all time?" I asked incredulously. I couldn't believe someone would name their kid after someone as famous as that.

He laughed again, "Yeah, my mom was a huge Bulls fan and she loved the guy so much that she named me after him, crazy right?" he said.

"That's insane man, how do you make a name for yourself like that?" I asked.

"I don't really think about it that much, hell, I look up to the guy more that anyone, he was my idol growing up and he still is today," he said as he pointed to the Chicago Bulls jersey he was currently wearing. " Er... Was I mean."

"Do you play a lot of basketball?" I asked.

"Oh yeah all the time, I used to hustle people back home to make some easy cash to help me and my mom out," he said.

"Hopefully, when this is all over, I can play you one on one," I say with a grin.

"Oh, you are so on dude," he says with a laugh as we make our way over to the armory tent. I walked inside and motioned for Mike to follow. Nyssa was in her as she usually was, except this time she was working on more of the ammunition for my M16.

"How's it hanging Nys?" I ask. She had on her usual attire, a black tank top and a pair of torn blue jeans along with a pair of old sneakers. Her standard red bandana was also in its usual place on her head, holding back her long, dark brown hair.

She didn't look up from her work for a little while until Mike spoke up.

"Nyssa?" he asked with a tremble in his voice. She immediately froze and looked up to see us. She dropped her hammer and sprinted over to Mike and tackled him to the ground in a hug. They started kissing passionately and I let out a cough to try and stop the awkwardness but it was unfortunately to no avail.

"No one cares about 'ole Bubbles I guess," I grumbled as Nyssa got up off the floor with Mike. Her face was bright red from embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head with her prosthetic arm. Mike noticed this and his eyes got wide from shock.

"What in the Hades happened to your arm Nys?" he asked.

"A damn giant crushed it under his foot so it had to be amputated and I eventually came up with this bad boy," she explained as she showed off the impressive looking arm. It looked like the arm that the Winter Soldier had but instead of steel it was made out of Celestial bronze with some armor plates on the forearm, shoulder, and bicep.

"I'll leave you two to catch up on things," I said as I backed out of the tent and continued my walk around the camp. It was still dark outside so I walked over to my private tent. My tent was pretty basic as I had a twin bed in the corner next to my desk that was covered in battle plans and strategies. I walked over to the desk and spotted a set of pictures that made a couple of tears form in my eyes.

One picture was of me, Annabeth, and Percy my home town of Auburn. I had on my favorite Bo Jackson jersey and Annabeth was wearing a beautiful orange and blue dress. Percy had on a navy blue polo shirt and had his arm around Annabeth as he faced the camera. That was during the fall after the Titan War when I convinced Percy and Annabeth to see an Auburn football game. We had so much fun at that game and I still remember the look on Annabeth's face when Percy "accidentally" spilled soda on her during the game. He swore it was an accident but we were well aware of his powers over water and he could've totally stopped it from happening.

The next picture was of me when I was a lot younger. My dad and Athena were with me as we smiled at the camera. My dad looked just like me except he had brown hair. He had on a genuine smile and Athena did as well. They really seemed to enjoy each other's company and Zach knew that his mother loved him dearly despite the Ancient Laws.

The last picture was of the bonfire at Camp back in the day. After three years it almost felt like a dream. Zach sat next to Annabeth and Malcolm as they sang along with the other campers. The picture captured all the joy and happiness of the moment in time. Gaea had taken all of that away from Zach and he was itching to get his revenge on the primordial b*** of the Earth.

 **Maelstrom J: "Here's Johnny!"**

 **Move over bud it's my turn.**

 **McCanner: But I was just getting st-**

 ***a piece of tape is slapped over his mouth***

 **Maelstrom J: Anyways now that that's out of my system, please enjoy Jon's POV while I duct tape Mc to his chair and eat his pizza, bye!**

 **McCanner: Buh Aggasugh!**

 **Translation: " But I wanted some!"**

As Zach led Mike and Liz away I turned to see Doc peering at a long scroll lying on the ground atop a broad, flat stump near where we came in.

" Hey Lou, care to explain this little gem to the good Doctor?" She smiled and jokingly hit me on the shoulder before almost immediately launching into a lecture about Egyptian magic and its uses when combined with Greek. She tried explaining it to me before but I ended up falling asleep into my dinner before she finished. Guess our Roman counterparts got less ADHD than us because Reyna and Gwen had actually managed to pay attention. I turned to Michela who'd watched Zach go, a bit of fear in her face.

" Don't worry about Zach. He's just touchy when it comes to Annabeth. Siblings and all." I rubbed my hands together to dispel the chill that the fall, night air had set in.

" Come on. Lou probably won't be done babbling for a while so we might as well get some food. How's..." Her eyes blinked and she turned to me. " Sorry, what were you saying?" I smiled. In the very short time I'd known this girl she'd been a captive of some Cyclopes and unconscious. Not a fun evening.

" I said lets get some food. I want it and you probably need it." I headed off into the tents and within seconds she was at my side. " How have you guys lasted so long? It seems like you would've torn yourselves apart by now."

I laughed," Oh we've come close. Once Zach just lost it so I held him upside down. By the ankle. At ten thousand feet."

Her eyes bugged out," Don't worry it was really just scare tactics. Lou wasn't here to cool him down so I kinda ran out of ideas."

" So you almost let him reach terminal velocity? How are you two still friends?! I'm not even gonna ask how you know how to fly." I shook my head.

" You're asking a question that's been bugging me for years. Even back at camp we got along. After the Giants had a slaughter-fest we stuck together with Lou and slowly picked up the others." A car engine came into earshot and a battered army jeep that looked like it had come straight back from Vietnam drove into our little clearing. At the wheel was a lanky guy with long blond hair and tan skin. He stopped the jeep and hopped out, revealing black pants and a camo jacket. He pulled a duffle, quiver, and a bow from the back seat.

" Speaking of 'others'... Will how'd your little hunting trip go?" The son of Apollo smiled.

" Not bad. Although the buck I was following got snagged by a Cyclopes. Let's just say I'm not loosing another trophy to that particular cycloptic dumbass."

He looked at Michela." I take it you guys were successful?"

" Yeah, four. You'll be pleased to know we've got a new medic. Guy's even more of a natural than you and this Liz girl made a ball of light o-"

Will's face went slack." Did you say Liz? As in Elizabeth?"

Something was very weird about him. Like a nervous energy." Well, yeah. Why's that..." Will took off like one of the arrows he so frequently used, dropping his bag and bow where he stood. He darted through a wall of brush back towards the center of camp. I face palmed.

" Of course. She's a daughter of Apollo." Michela nodded. "She half-blinded one of the Cyclopes when they dragged her in. Their mistake to do it during the day."

I glanced at her, as we started walking again, " How'd you know that?" She shrugged," I was the first one they bagged. The others were dragged in over the next few days. One mentioned something about a pie and needing more "filling". It's a good thing you found us when you did. By the way, how did you find us anyhow?"

" Well you met Lou. I don't know how long you were at camp but she's basically a master magician even for a child of Hecate. And with this odd Egyptian magic at her disposal she figured out a way to pick out demigod signals, for lack of a better word. The spell wasn't even active for twenty minutes when it detected you four. Then one of these so called "gates" powered by Lou's magic and poof! Here we are. Speaking of which..." I pulled back the flap of a large tent that was actually invisible (another spell) unless you knew where to look.

Inside was a folding circular table surrounded by 8 chairs. A counter type thing lined the sides and a few coolers and salvaged, albeit useless, gold plates from CHB sat atop it. A few Hunters had run into us down in Maryland and passed on three enchanted tents which Lou had to improve on even more. She was working on trying to apply the same enchantment to one of our mortal tents but so far she'd just managed to strengthen them so that they felt like wood when you leaned on them.

I reached into a cooler and pulled out a bottle of water. This time it was Nys who made some sort of a refrigerating unit in each cooler. As long as we kept finding bronze and gold scraps she would keep tinkering.

I gestured vaguely at the seats." There's cans of soup and other stuffs under the counter. Oh and Lou made the can opener heat them as you open it so have at it. I really gotta thank her." I grabbed an apple someone had picked off the nearby trees and bit into it. I turned to find Michela already inhaling what I think was beef and vegetable.

I snagged another apple and slid another bottle across the table." Here, I'll ask Lacy to set you up for the night. Eat what you want. You four probably need it." She nodded and took a long drink of the water.

As I turned to go I swear I saw a shimmer over her face and saw cuts and bruises but just as quickly it was gone. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes as I exited the tent. " I'm gonna need some sleep. And more chairs." I mumbled to myself.

I headed back to the main fire the short way by cutting through the brush like Will. I saw light glowing inside Zach's tent and then found Lou and Doc still talking. I tossed him the apple which he took to with gusto, not missing a beat with the lecture on magic. I found Lacy trimming the fletching for a few arrows and passed along the news about Michela which she seemed to think meant she was having a sleepover. Always a bright spot that one.

I slipped into my so called "Invis-i-Tent" as Will called it. The unanimously agreed that I get the third magic one. Why? I don't know but it was nice. Small, but nice. Honestly it was home.

A twin-sized cot was placed along the back wall (my tent was squarish) and at the foot sat a chest was filled with spare clothes, mostly jeans and shirts in varying shades of blue. An armor stand was in the right hand corner with what little armor I wore on it. Just gauntlets, shoulder armor and a chest plate, all lightweight and shiny. The dullness annoys me...

I kicked off my sneakers and threw my jacket onto the armor stand and fell on to my bed.

3 years of scenes out of a post-apocalyptic horror movie and yet still we kept running into people who survived. Even the occasional one who thrived in the new world. From the military guy last week to the Hunters two months ago.

Civilization might've been ground to dust but news flash Gaea. We're not dead yet. And you've got a lot to answer for.

 **Maelstrom J: Don't hesitate to point out any errors I might have missed-**

 **Maelstrom J: What? No comment?**

 **McCanner: *slowly tears off tape* You said it yourself, they're your errors. I only point out the obvious ones. And you owe me a pizza**

 **Maelstrom J: *sigh* Anyways please leave a review and a favorite if you like, Au Revoir!**

 **McCanner: What he said!**


End file.
